


different kinds of scissors.

by SilkyinaBottle



Category: Dangan Ronpa
Genre: Community: superhighschoollevelsmut, F/F, Forum Posts, Mentions of Masturbation, but only figuratively which tbh is probably the salt in the wound, embarrassing crushes, kink meme prompt, regretting what you did on the internet, togami is an asshole who fucks with celes during the trial
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2016-01-22
Packaged: 2018-05-15 11:50:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5784274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilkyinaBottle/pseuds/SilkyinaBottle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Genocider Syo was a mystery; a vision of sharp fangs and piercing eyes that haunted Celes many a night.</p><p>And then Genocider Syo was a man that did not exist.</p>
            </blockquote>





	different kinds of scissors.

**Author's Note:**

> i've been working on this fic since september!! september. jesus. never thought i'd write for a pair like this, but i love celes and writing in her perspective was an absolute delight. plus it's been a while since i wrote anything with the original dr cast.
> 
> based on this prompt form the dr kink meme: https://superhighschoollevelsmut.dreamwidth.org/558.html?thread=10286#cmt10286
> 
> there's also a good chunk of the second trial in here, so all the dialogue there is lovingly taken (and altered bc i have some issues with sentence structure) from oren's original lp.
> 
> i've had so much fun with this fic. i'm probably going to miss writing it. *blows kiss into the wind* for the forum posts

If there was one thing Celes loathed to admit she had kept from her worn-out identity, it was a certain...  _vulgar_  streak.

Not cuss words or a tendency to shout; no, no, no. Taeko Yasuhiro had been much too bland to come out with such colorful language, and she was more meek and quiet than she ever was loud or frightening. Those were all traits were all a part of the persona Celes had carefully crafted for herself. A lady had to know when to put others in their rightful place, after all.

But a lady did  _not_  spend late nights browsing online forums; her short hair unkempt and her clip-on extensions carelessly tossed onto her bed. No, that was something that people like Yamada did: scrolling through countless threads until finding something that suited their specific " _needs_ ". And yet here she was, dressed only in an oversized t-shirt and sweatpants, practically drooling on her laptop as her eyes browsed the page for exactly the words she wanted to find. 

 _Bloodstain fever, with scissors, four newest victims, drained of their blood, fever, behind a public washroom, all young men, scissors, blood, silver, Genocider, unknown identity, Syo, Syo, Syo._  

It's not like she had a problem. She really didn't do this  _that_  often. Just whenever she had time to stay up until the early hours of the morning, pouring herself over articles, theories, speculation, and photos. Oh,  _so_  many photos. Some artistic renditions, some released photos of the victims (but never of them  _dead_ , much to Celes's dismay), and even some photos that people insisted were of the  _real_  Genocider Syo. Celes knew those ones were all just a bunch of horse shit. His facial features were never sharp enough, his skin never pale enough, his eyes never piercing enough, and not a single picture ever showed his teeth at just the right angle.

_Originally posted by harpyheart at 4:35 5/8/13_

> _I'm telling you guys, there's no way someone could be overpowering so many different men. They all look pretty fit, and most of them don't have a bad medical history... Even if he's ripped or something, he could only move so fast. This guy's gotta be something else. Possessed, maybe._

_Originally posted by seifuko68 at 4:42 5/8/13_  

>   _or maybe it's some schoolgirl lol_
> 
> _i would totally follow a girl in a school uniform behind a public washroom if u know what i mean_

_Originally posted by harpyheart at 5:18 5/8/13_  

> _Seriously, man? Fuck off. I'm tired of you coming at all of my threads like this. No one wants to hear about your gross-ass fetishes. Go somewhere else._

Celes frowned at the dimly lit screen, firmly dissatisfied with both of their opinions. She may not have been in the category who believed Genocider Syo was some lust-killing middle schooler (or female at all), but she did have her own beliefs about him, and she would be damned if she was going to let go of her fantasies just because some ruffian on the internet told her to. ...Or told someone else to. Either way, she started typing.

Celes frowned at the dimly lit screen, firmly dissatisfied with both of their opinions. She may not have been in the category who believed Genocider Syo was some lust-killing middle schooler (or female at all), but she did have her own beliefs about him, and she would be damned if she was going to let go of her fantasies just because some ruffian on the internet told her to. ...Or told someone else to. Either way, she started typing.

_Originally posted by celestial_nightmare at 2:44 5/9/13_   

> _While I think it's perfectly possible that Syo could be a supernatural being of some sort, I unfortunately have to agree with seifuko on one point. We are free to come up with whatever ideas we please concerning Syo, no matter how incorrect some of them may be. I for one wouldn't mind being held hostage by him... ;)_  

It didn't take long before someone added on another reply. Unsurprisingly, it was from the same person who had started the thread. Celes almost laughed. This would be good.

_Originally posted by harpyheart at 2:48 5/9/13_  

> _I honestly can't believe all of you. He's a serial killer, not a stripper. Do you all have some kind of bloodlust fetish I didn't hear about?_

There was more; they must have seen her post right away, because it was a whole four paragraphs long. She skimmed through it, picking and choosing bits of it read (mostly the parts with the most swearing; that always made for a great read). One sentence near the end caught her eye, and she laughed so suddenly she almost choked on her tea (peppermint, her favorite). 

> _If you guys wanna keep on fingering yourself to Syo, that's fine by me (also fucking disgusting, but at least I don't have to watch). Just don't come running to me when he turns out to be the bogeyman and you regret all those masturbation sessions._  

Celes set down her teacup with a sharp  _clack_ , and then she stopped and stayed really still for a minute, because shit, she didn't wake her parents up, did she? After a a full 60 seconds with no angry knocking on her bedroom door, she decided she was in the clear and let out a small, inaudible giggle.

As if she'd regret something as fulfilling as  _that_.

(The morning earned her an angry reply from seifuko68 as well, although that one was much less articulated than harpyheart's. That time, she laughed loud and proud.)

* * *

Being locked inside Hope's Peak Academy was shit at first. Wait, forget that. It was shit the entire time, but it wasn't without its moments. Yamada may have been a pig, but at least he was useful. She had never had her own personal servant before and she had to say, it was a nice change of pace. She could get used to it. (And if she ever changed her mind, that "mutual killing" thing was always an option. She'd have to think on it.) Girls like Maizono and Enoshima had been obnoxious and men like Leon were probably her least favorite kind of guy (the ones who thought they could get any girl they wanted with a wave of their hand and a few clever words), but at least they were out of her hair now. They were picking each other off now. She just had to make sure she kept an eye out and she would be fine.

...She didn't get much sleep anymore.

But then there was Togami. Horrible, insufferable,  _beautiful_  Byakuya Togami, with his talk of life-or-death games and his quiet evenings spent in the library. From the moment Celes laid eyes upon his upturned nose and sleek clean suit, she knew she hated him. Here he was; someone who truly matched her image of what a vampire butler should  _be_ , and yet...

Well, to begin with, Togami could hardly care about who she was. Togami was of a higher breed than her, and she was fairly certain (through his knowledge of business associates and the upper class of Japan) he could see straight though her nearly perfect facade. But he was at least willing to humor her, which was helpful enough. She didn't need anyone getting any  _ideas_. So for now she would pretend she belonged around him, even if the distasteful looks he occasionally threw her seemed to suggest otherwise.

And then there was his ego. Celes hadn't realized that one person could stand to talk about themselves for so long, but then there was Togami, who was ready at a moment's notice to retell his entire life story. And with such disinterest. As if it was some sort of inconvenience. She knew it wasn't; six of them had heard this story by now, excluding Fukawa, who listened behind closed doors and around nearby corners.

Ah, yes. Touko Fukawa. The Super High School Level Literary Prodigy. How she was granted such a title, Celes didn't know. She had picked up one of her books once, though only upon recommendation from another member of the forum she frequented. She had gotten only four chapters through before tossing the book under her bed and accepting it for what it was: complete and utter garbage. Fukawa had nothing to offer to the literary world other than idealized love interests and poorly executed euphemisms for sex.

So when Chihiro Fujisaki was found crucified in the girl's locker room, Celes didn't think much of it. 

Well, perhaps that wasn't quite the correct wording. She thought a lot about Fujisaki's murder, of course, but none of those thoughts had anything to do with Fukawa. She had been absolutely livid at the sight of it; Fujisaki's body pinned up in that all-too suspicious pose, her feet dangling above the ground and her eyes glossy and vacant. The phrase scrawled near her head was one Celes had read time and time again, across forum posts and news articles alike. There was no mistaking it.

Genocider Syo was somewhere inside these very walls.

Celes left the scene of the crime as soon as she had the chance, hoping that—despite the growing heat between her thighs—that she'd be able to restrain herself from indulging in such an obscene act. Their rooms might have been soundproof, but she wasn't going to be a sweaty wreck during the trial. That would only draw suspicion.

* * *

The beginning of the trial was mindless. But of course it would be, Celes reasoned, when her classmates decided to spend ten minutes talking about the crystal clear murder weapon. But after that grueling ten minutes, Togami's came through to pull her out of her reverie. "With that done, from now on I will do the talking. Let's move on to discuss who the culprit is." Every head in the room turned towards him, stock still in waiting, and Celes almost swore she heard Monokuma chuckling. "Or rather... how the identity of that culprit is already perfectly clear..."

Hagakure (or, as Celes liked to refer to him in the private space of her own mind, The Bum) let out some uncanny sound akin to both a choke and a gasp. "Are you serious!?"

Togami disregarded him, shooting the group one of his usual smug, too-sure-of-himself-for-his-own-good grins. "The culprit who killed Chihiro Fujisaki is...," Celes waited much to patiently, raking her nails against the wooden stand in front of her. For an eternity Togami relished in the anticipation of his classmates, and Celes wanted to throttle him, because she knew, she  _knew_ , but she wasn't sure if Togami knew just as well as she, "the serial murderer Genocider Syo!"

Celes let out a personal sigh of relief just as the room broke into contained chaos. Right, good. Of course. She couldn't have been the only one to notice. Surely her vampire prince was here somewhere... But as her eyes scanned each panicked face, she knew the only person even remotely close to her vision of Genocider Syo was the one person who, logically, couldn't be him.

"But that's impossible!" Asahina finally cried out, her voice standing out enough for Togami to acknowledge it.

He scowled, his face contorting until it settled on a sort of grimace. "Why is that impossible?"

At this, Asahina stumbled. "Because... no matter how you look at it... um...," she sputtered, and Celes didn't even ride her eyeroll. What ill-considered speech, "there's no evidence for it, is there?"

Celes expected Togami to speak, but what she got was Naegi instead. She only barely managed to hold back an exasperated sigh. Boys as unremarkable as him really did need to learn exactly where they stood, especially in comparison to someone like...

On second thought, she wasn't going to think much of it.

"If it's evidence you want, there probably is some...," Naegi suggested, in what Celes was convinced was his default tone: uncertain. And yet the entire room seemed to act as if Naegi's word was absolute, letting out little gasps of surprise and staring at him with wide, frantic eyes. He continued only after a hesitation, as if he was unaware of how the room bended on his accord. "It was written in a file we found in the library's storage room...," to her right, Celes saw Togami give a little nod, casually confirming Naegi's words as the latter spoke, "It's a summary of the Genocider Syo case, and it looks like a top-secret police document..."

"W-wait!" Oowada cried out and Celes noticed, not for the first time, how heavily he was sweating. "Isn't that strange!? Why was such a thing in a school library?"

Togami rolled his eyes quite noticeably at this, and it was awfully telling that Oowada didn't react (or perhaps didn't even notice). "To explain that would be bothersome. Let's keep this short." He held out his palm and pressed his index finger against the middle, almost as if the aforementioned file were resting in his hand this very moment. "In any case, the special characteristics of Genocider Syo's murders are listed in this file in minute detail," he explained, slowly running his finger across his palm. "According to the file, there are two such special characteristics." At this he looked up, addressing them directly but without interest. "The first is a message in blood left at the scene of the crime..."

Across the circle, Yamada looked much too smug with himself as he cried out, "It was 'Bigboobie Fever', wasn't it?" Celes was one moment of tranquil rage away from leaping over her stand and choking Yamada with his own tie before Asahina corrected him. Celes wasn't sure if she was thankful or not (on one hand, keeping up a good image was in her best interest, but on the  _other_  hand... he probably would have deserved it).

Togami quickly brought the group's attention back to him, and the look on his face tells Celes he was equally disgusted. "The important thing is the second characteristic. That's because it was never announced to the public..."

"S-something that was never announced to the public...?" Oowada choked out, his pale face shining under the bright lights of their makeshift courtroom.

Togami threw them another smug-ass grin, one that made Celes writhe in revulsion. "Naegi, it's better if you tell them." Again with this Naegi stuff. Just what made him so special? She was a Genocider Syo  _expert_ ; surely she could tell them exactly what characteristic had never been mentioned to the public. It was clearly...

It was...

Damn.

Naegi was quick to answer, but he hardly seemed happy about playing the part of Togami's Watson. Celes wondered if he noticed the look she was giving him from across the circle. "In Genocider Syo's murders, it seems the body was always crucified, but...," his expression turned wary as he continued, but Celes hardly heard what he said over her own sick fantasies. It sounded like,  _'Something something police,'_ but she was too busy imagining Syo tying her up against a wall to properly decipher it.

She came back to Earth right in time to hear the point of the discussion. "How did the culprit know to do that? It was something no one but the murderer and the police knew...," Togami was saying, looking around the room as if he was accusing  _all_ of them of being involved in the case. Unlikely, but if Celes had known Syo was involved, she might have taken the opportunity. Depending on who he was. Right now, she thought as she drummed her fingers against the top of her trial stand, her options weren't looking very good. "Only one answer comes to mind," Togami continued, and as Celes saw him take a pause for dramatic effect, she prepared herself to mouth the words right along with him. "The culprit... is the real Genocider Syo."

 _Right. We all know that_ , she mused, despite the general mayhem the room was thrown into. She had known that, and really, wasn't that enough? She surmised that now, more than ever, was the best time to intervene. The sooner everyone stopped screaming, the better. "In that case, you mean to say Genocider Syo is one of us?" she gaped, doing her best to feign surprise. 

This seemed to please Togami, because he grinned again and said his next words without breaking eye contact.

"It's Touko Fukawa."

Celes just had to hope no one noticed how she almost gagged at Togami's suggestion.  _Surely_  he must have been joking, but the gurgled noise Fukawa made from across the circle suggested otherwise. Celes had spent too long learning how to read people to not know what that meant. It would have been a  _crime_ for her to not recognize...!

But then, of course, there was the major flaw in Togami's theory: Genocider Syo was male. That was one subject Celes would not yield on. Surely her vampire prince was here, surely he was hiding in the shadows, surely Fukawa had just made a noise of surprise, surely Togami was mistaken,  _surely_...

"Touko Fukawa is Genocider Syo’s true identity," Togami repeats and Celes nearly vomits on the spot. It was her job here to do the lying, how  _dare_ he—

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Yamada screaming, Fukawa incoherently babbling, and a general feeling of dread. Fortunately, Asahina seemed to be there for her. "W-wait a second!" she cried, looking clueless as usual, but not without a point to make. "Isn’t Fukawa-chan weak to blood? I’ve never heard of a serial killer who couldn’t stand the sight of blood!"

 _Yes, precisely,_ she challenged, her stare surely boring holes into the side of Togami's head.  _Explain that, bitch._

Togami gave her a quick glance, as if to say,  _No matter_ , before turning to address Asahina. "The answer to your question is that... Touko Fukawa both is and isn't Genocider Syo." _  
_

What kind of bullshit, cop-out,  _'I'm-making-this-shit-up-as-I-go'_  kind of answer was  _that_? Everyone else seemed to trust him implicitly (and what idiots they were for doing so; he'd gladly play them all for fools), and Celes heard the bum mutter, "Are you speaking in riddles? Stop beating around the bush!"

Well, of course it was a riddle. Togami wasn't doing anything but hiding behind clever words; Celes would know, she was better than anyone at that. He was just sitting there,  _fucking_ with them, just because of some warped sense of self-regard—

(But then, there wasn't that telltale  _lilt_ in his voice that Celes so easily recognized. His voice wasn't giving its owner away when by all means it  _should_ have been. His confidence helped to form an icy lining in Celes's stomach, a feeling only someone as loathsome as Byakuya Togami could give her.)

—and then Makoto Naegi came back around and pulled apart his riddle for all eyes to see. "You’re trying to say that... Genocider Syo has multiple personalities...?"

Immediately, a noise rose up in her throat, and Celes had to cover her mouth to stop herself from screaming in utter  _agony_ at what felt increasingly like a shameful defeat. To her right, she heard Togami give a dry chuckle, and for a vulnerable, fleeting moment, she wondered if  _she_ was the one who had been played for a fool.

No.  _No_ , she was going to hear what this overgrown  _child_ had to say before drawing  _any_ sort of conclusion. "Something like that was written in that case file...," he was saying, with a look on his face like he was struggling to remember the right words, "It’s possible the culprit has... 'Dissociative Identity Disorder'..."

Impossible. Her eyes traveled quickly, between Touko Fukawa, the sniveling, shaking, utterly  _pathetic_ girl cowering on the other side of the room, and...

...And a man who wasn't there. A man who, perhaps, only existed in her fantasies.

Around her, the room turned cold. Togami's voice drowned out all others, pulling her to the surface when she started forgetting how to breathe. "I can say it with certainty," he announced, and for some reason it still felt like it was directed towards her more than anyone else. "We all saw it demonstrated just after we discovered the body. Her behavior suddenly changed."

Celes's mind refused to leave its standstill. She wanted to remember, she wanted to know what he was talking about, she wanted to keep up with the rest of them, she wanted to stay  _ahead_ of the game like she so often did, and she wanted to be  _special_ , but everything was  _Syo_ , it was all about  _Syo_ , it was  _Syo Syo bloodstain fever Syo with scissors Syo Syo behind the washroom Syo Syo fever Syo Syo Syo Syo..._

Touko Fukawa.

"You’re talking about how her tone of voice changed?" Naegi said in a voice clear and calm enough to give her whiplash.

Touko Fukawa was Genocider Syo.

This time, Celes could  _feel_ Togami's smug grin, slimy and sour as it pushed against her shaking core. "Try to remember. After seeing Fujisaki’s body, she fainted. And when she opened her eyes again..."

Celes remembered. God, she wished she didn't, but she  _did_. She remembered Fukawa's (no, she reminded herself, _Syo's_ ) pasty white skin, her slurred speech, her raucous laugh, and her  _piercing_ eyes...

Ishimaru, like everyone else in the room, was grimacing, but he somehow seemed to be in greater pain than anyone else. "You’re right," he muttered, his voice thick and hoarse, "her behaviour  _was_  strange! That 'gloomy speech' she is famous for was completely gone!"

"Don’t decide... what someone is famous for..." Ishimaru's look of pain was perhaps only out-shined by Fukawa's, as she looked to be a moment away from passing out. And if Togami's theory proved to be correct, this would release a notorious serial killer into the middle of their murder trial. How fun.

"Furthermore," Togami continued, clearly picking up steam in his accusations, "after she returned to consciousness, Fujisaki’s dead body didn’t bother her anymore... In short, before your very eyes, a person who can’t stand the sight of blood turned into one who can."

Fukawa wade making little choking sounds now, as if whatever argument she had left was trapped in her through and begging to be let out. Asahina seemed to be taking pity on her, because it took her all of three seconds to come up with an argument for her—a new record. "But... what about how she locked herself in her room because she was afraid of Genocider Syo...?"

Celes certainly hadn't been there for that, but her unfamiliarity was of little confidence, as Togami once again took it in stride. "She locked herself in her room, but not to keep other people out...," he explained slowly, surely to make the information easy for Asahina to digest. "It was to keep the person inside in." When Asahina did nothing but stare at him dumbly, he reworded his statement. "Touko Fukawa was indeed scared. She was scared the serial murderer inside of her would continue to kill people..."

The sound Fukawa let out was nearly a shriek, broken up into tiny pieces. "W-w-w-w-why!?"

But Asahina planned not to give up so easily. "That’s right!" she shrieked, sounding like she had suddenly caught Togami red-handed. "Why do you know all of this!?"

Celes was beginning to believe that each time Togami smiled, an angel died. "Asahina," he sneered, his voice quiet and tender despite the know-it-all curve of his lips, "you’re making a big mistake. The meaning of Fukawa’s 'why' is not, 'why does he know?'" He dropped the saccharine sweetness, raising his voice to a volume where Celes knew he was addressing everyone. "It means, 'Why did he expose me?'"

For what might have been the first time that day, Celes found herself unsurprised by Togami's words. Of course. Of fucking  _course_ she had told him. The girl was already drooling for him out of  _several_ holes; some secrets were bound to slip out sooner or later. "That girl... came to me asking for strange advice yesterday evening," Togami recalled, and Celes would be damned if she didn't notice the way he avoided Fukawa's trembling gaze. "It was just before Monobear presented us with the latest motive... She told me a deeply interesting story. She said there’s a serial killer hiding inside her... and that she will forever live in fear unless she finds a way to abolish it..." And then Togami smiled, an angel died, and Fukawa's face lost its last drop of remaining color. "That’s the reason her personality turned dark and the same reason she always keeps other people at a distance. Isn’t that so?"

Fukawa shook violently, her face crimson and her knuckles white as she clawed at the fabric of her shirt, like she was trying to free herself from her own body. And if Togami's theory held true, that might not be a metaphor.

Asahina's face went pale and her eyes read  _desperate_. "He’s... lying, isn’t he? Fukawa-chan...?"

"Y-you said you weren’t going to tell anyone...!" Fukawa screeched, clutching her head and moaning more words that came out merely as incomprehensible garble. Then she was back to screaming, droplets of saliva flying from her mouth as she spit out livid words at the unflinching heir. "W-we made... a promise...! Y-y-you deceived me...!?"

"You just made a simple mistake. Flaunting your tragic story to someone who never asked to hear it. This is the real world. It isn’t one of your imaginary romance novels." Togami swallowed roughly, holding a hand to his mouth to keep back what surely was the bile rising from his stomach. Celes couldn't blame him. She was having just as much trouble realizing  _this_ was the person she had spent nights pressing her face against a pillow for. "Furthermore, it was you who broke our promise first. I remember what you said well... As long as we’re in this place, no matter what happens, you won’t let Genocider Syo kill again... But despite that...," He took a glance to his right, eying Fujisaki's portrait with a look of simple disappointment. "Fujisaki is dead, isn't she?"

Fukawa's breathing was ragged; a deep, stuttering sound that made a wheeze sound natural. "I thought... if I kept my promise you would go out with me...," Fukawa looked straight at him and— _there_. That was it. If Celes was being completely honest with herself at this point (and she'd come this far, so why wouldn't she be?), _that_ was the stare Celes had imagined Syo having. Vicious, boiling, and  _agonizing_ against your skin. It was the first image of Syo that was even remotely correct and it made Celes absolutely sick. "That’s why... I made that promise... but now...!"

The best word to describe the look on Togami's face would have been  _offended_. "That’s what I’m telling you. That was your own misunderstanding," he dismissed, but his tone didn't change when the subject did. "In any case, you couldn’t even keep your own promise. You lost to that feeling of pleasure you get from killing people, didn’t you?" By all means, he should have sounded  _disgusted_ with her, but the sort of abhorrence he had regarded her with before just wasn't there. My, my. He was just as callous as Celes herself, wasn't he? Just as callous as  _any_ of them, really. Syo, Celes, Kuwata, Maizono, and even Togami—in the end, how were they any different?

"I... I tried my best...," Fukawa reasoned, her speech beginning to slur as sweat make her face slick and shiny. "I did everything I could to hold it down, but—"

"But unfortunately, those efforts were all for nothing," Togami sneered, his eyes boring into Fukawa hard enough to make her slump against her trial stand.

"You're cruel," she groaned, before bending over and dry-heaving several times, seemingly willing to empty herself despite her body's refusal to.

"Well, then," Togami grinned one last time, and Celes thought she might just puke. "It’s time to finish the opening act. I want to hear directly from the killer herself..."

"T...the actual person...!?" It was more of a sputter than anything else, like a car starting up again and again and again...

Togami looked Celes directly in the eyes just as Fukawa let out a blood-curdling scream and crumpled to the floor, motionless. When she came back up, Celes's mind went on auto-pilot and stayed that way for the rest of the trial.

* * *

Two hours later, Celes is hardly surprised to find herself back in the second floor girl's locker room. Something about the room was calling to her, as if she expected her imaginary prince to step out of the shadows and invite her inside. She should know better now, she thought, then to imagine herself living in one of Fukawa's romance novels. It was unbelievably tactless.

As she pushed open the heavy metal door, what was the most striking was the apparent lack of a crime. Fujisaki's body was nowhere in sight, and the blood-soaked carpet and gravure idol poster were replaced with their protein-stained and boy band counterparts. She knelt down next to the rug, running her fingertips over the dark spot like it was breakable. It was simply as if no crime had taken place at all; as if Celes could have walked out of this room and greeted Fujisaki and Oowada the very next morning.

If only.

"The trial's over, ya know! No investigating left to be done! Unless you just wanted to get another look at the body!" The shrieking laugh that followed was unmistakable, even if she could count the times she had heard it on one hand. Celes hadn't noticed the door open, but that didn't matter now. She makes sure to prepare her poker face as she rises from her squatting position. She turns on her heel just in time to meet red eyes with her sailor skirted princess.

"I believe I'm well aware," she annunciated, being careful to keep her hand in her default position; clasped together, right below her belly button. She felt a chill rush through her as she met Syo's stare, confirming her suspicion that her hands would indeed shake if she were to move them. "I was just mulling over the day's events." She started to make her way past the other woman, keeping her distance as to avoid being brushed by a dark rope of a pigtail on her way out. "Now if you'll excuse me," she said, mere feet away from the door, "I believe I'll be on my way. Goodnight, Syo-san."

This was a mistake. Her voice caught on  _'-san,'_ just a second before Syo caught her wrist in a surprisingly (but not unpleasantly) strong grip. "Sounds to me like you were hoping to do a lot more than mull," Syo's voice was little more than than hum, considering she had moved close enough for Celes to feel her hot breath against her ear and hear her inhale, exhale, in, out...

Every fiber of Celes's being screamed different things, but somehow they all came together to create a resounding chorus of  _yes, yes yes yes yes YES_. She turned towards Syo so very slowly and deliberately, rested her free hand on top of the one restraining her wrist, and mustered up just enough of a voice to whisper, "I'm afraid I'm not interested. I am well aware of what you do to those you're... enamored with."

Syo threw her head back and let out another screeching laugh, one that told Celes exactly what her intentions were from the start. She felt the chills leave her body in waves, until she was nothing but her poker face and a twisted celebrity crush gone stale. "You got me there, Frills!" she cried, throwing Celes what had already become a signature slasher smile. "My victims  _are_ always the smexiest of men, aren't they? You must have seen right through that one."

Celes refused to let anything slip. She held Syo's piercing gaze, nice and steady, and it didn't hurt when she smiled the sweetest of smiles and cooed, "Perhaps."

Not one bit.


End file.
